Lowkey. Fuckface is the only reason Malaya is tolerated in universe. She was denied admission until the dean saw him and was like “Woah! Cool iguana!” The whole no pets allowed thing is an elaborate lie to screw with people.

There are actually a couple studies suggesting you can be. Like, only a couple and it seems like most of them were individual case studies with prolonged exposure first, but it seems not-impossible. So that’s the new thing I learned today.

There are apparently some very rare individuals who are allergic. But there are more important issues with regard to human health. The Green Iguana Society has an extensive list of human safety issues for iguana keeper.

Or roommates who are phobic about certain pets (snakes?) or just don’t want to deal with them. This scene is a good reason.

Or kids who don’t take good care of their pets – no oversight like there would have been back home. Or who don’t keep them from damaging the rooms – scratching, sanitation.

For many common pets dorm rooms are very small to be cooped up in. Living in close quarters it’s likely that for anything not kept in a tank or cage, it won’t just be the roommate affected, but everyone on the floor at least – and all their pets.

All that said, apparently some schools are experimenting with pet-friendly dorms.

(For those who don’t know the story, when Byron was at university, he was told he couldn’t keep a dog, so he got a bear. Sources vary as to whether the rule specifically said “dogs” [or possibly “dogs or cats”] or whether it said “domestic animals” and he assured the college that the bear wasn’t domesticated in the slightest.)

Sometimes I really, REALLY hope the Jacob thing crashes and burns the way I dread it will, because I really, REALLY want it to help teach Joyce some freaking boundaries and maybe she’ll extend them past the relationships one. Respect the tired not-morning people, Joyce! Don’t intrude on people while they sleep! Or pee! That’s weird, Joyce!

She’s had a flash of insight that her plans for Jacob might be inappropriate, but I’m afraid it’s more because she’s realized that her motives are more lustful than “true love”.
I doubt that will extend to other boundary issues.

Joyce is treating these people like her family, because that’s her primary model for social interaction. And she was the baby sister, and the only girl as well.
Welcome to College Dorm Life: Not only does Joyce get to learn to live with strangers, but Billy, Malaya(**), Sarah and Sal(*) get to learn to live with a sister! Having someone like Joyce as a roommate isn’t a bug, it’s a feature.

(*)Sal has boarding school experience, so she may have already been presented with this lesson and punched it in its stupid morning lesson face already.
(**) Malaya’s sibling status is unknown?

Sarah has a little sister. And as the baby who is a sister in a family, I can confirm Joyce is not doing something just inherent to being the baby sister. Billie, Malaya, Sarah, and Sal should not have to put up with this while Joyce gets her act together. At this point, I’m not going to feel bad for her if she wakes up tied up somewhere so the others can sleep.

I am impressed that Sal has taken to Joyce’s wakeup calls with as much acceptance as she has. But I am more impressed Sal can wake up to an iguana in her face and not even react. Though I guess seeing her roomie is more aggravating and disturbing to her so it makes sense.

… You know, if I had an illicit iguana in my living space, which I shared with someone who didn’t like me or my iguana and I actively antagonized, I’m pretty sure letting said iguana out of its safe, contained, easily-covered-in-a-hurry tank to roam the living space freely would be a bad idea.

Also, aren’t iguanas diurnal? And it’s October, wouldn’t Fuckface staying in his tank with its heat lamp be better for Fuckface?

Fuckface probably escapes his tank anyway, doesn’t he. He strikes me as an iguana who gives zero shits about containment.

According to brief Googling set off by remembering Malaya in the old universe saying he was pretty low-maintenance in that regard, generally iguanas only expel their waste once or twice a day if they’re healthy and being fed properly.

That said, I say ‘expel waste’ because they pee and poop as one combined substance, and their waste can contain stuff like salmonella, so I would really also want to ensure Fuckface is NOT shitting in the living space.

This is not a good idea, Malaya, and it’s inconsiderate or potentially dangerous to both your roommate and your iguana.

In my experience: iguanas do like to escape their tank and roam around until they need to be heated up again. They especially like to be high up. They rarely if ever cause problems with pooping, which they only do occasionally and seem to prefer in some private place. They will eat any fruit or flowers they find though.

Yeah my worries are more about how Sal clearly doesn’t want to be responsible for this iguana at all and has kind of had those responsibilities foisted on her, mostly, with a side order of ‘so if Fuckface escapes, how much trouble is Sal in as well as Malaya’ than anything else. Potential health issues for either Sal or Fuckface are minor (largely because I know nothing about iguana care and cede to superior knowledge), but this whole situation is kind of inconsiderate to spring on someone without warning or any real ability for them to refuse.

Sal raised the illicit pet issue with Malaya in pretty much those words when Malaya moved in. Malaya’s response was to point to the person who her friend who was helping her move in — Marcie.

I once expressed concern about keeping an iguana in Bloomington, but as it happens there are iguana keepers in similar climates who are in this very comment section, and apparently the issues can be dealt with without any major foofaraw. Anyway, I assume Fuckface is biographical to Willis’s college experience.

Fuckface was a carryover from the Walkyverse’s non-college setting, so I have no reason to believe he’s autobiographical in that respect.

Glad to know he’s safe wandering free in this environment climate-wise, though. I’m still concerned that he’s wandering all over including on the lofted bed (what if he escapes the room?) but him not freezing to death is good.

Malaya’s whole bit in that scene was pretty dickish, though. I also remember the ‘you’re complaining because you hate animals’ line from that. There are perfectly good reasons to not want a relatively small living creature wandering freely around your living space. Especially if they can be a salmonella vector. Especially if their discovery can get both of you in trouble. And especially if they can have a perfectly healthy, enriched life in a tank designed for their needs rather than the rest of your dorm room.

I don’t know, she asked Billie if she did something wrong when she woke her up and she doesn’t get RIGHT in Sal’s face anymore to avoid being choked. Plus I know a lot of kids who get told to wake their siblings jus too give the over excited morning children something to do (so they don’t annoy their parents) instead of the parents having to call the older kids to get up.

I remember reading when I was a kid about how that was a lie because ”mighty beasts such as the saber-toothed tiger fell by the wayside and died out, while tiny, frail, insignificant man lived on” – clearly a good example of how evolutionary natural selection was unreliable.

…is that some kind of toxic masculinity ideals projected onto evolutionary history? THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS IS TO BE STRONG. Who would ever need adaptability or ability to organise things. Shut up ants, you are all girls so you don’t count.

Joyce has only, on the record, woken up Sarah, Sal and Billie (and I assume that Malaya is next), all of whom she has access to – Sarah is her roommate and Sal and Billie (now Malaya) are her suite-mates – they share a bathroom.
If she has ever woken up anyone else in the dorm hall, I’m sure the night owls at least have taken to locking their doors before they go to bed